Saying thank you, recognising effort, using someone’s name, making eye contact, being sincere and present are what we call ‘everyday’ ways of providing recognition.

The everyday acknowledgements and recognitions are actually part of a system of recognition that is proven to improve the engagement and the satisfaction of your employees (Zinger Folkman HBR 2023).

Conversations about how to retain people through positive purposeful culture and leadership are being had by all the leaders and organisations we partner with. When we come to that conversation we often find the approach focuses on the tactical responses to current issues.

What we encourage our client partners to do is look at the system of recognition that will have a more engaged employee group and to make sure they don’t just leave it to their experienced People and Culture partners. Building a system of recognition as a leader is critical to engagement. How do leaders you know provide recognition well – both in person and virtual?

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Last week I spoke to ten team members, as a pre-interview for our High Performance Teams program and the below quote confirmed these findings:

“It’s the little things. It’s the way (my leader) acknowledges effort, uses my name in meetings and sincerely acknowledges great results and constructively delivers feedback so I can grow”.

We can all forget that recognition comes in many forms and it’s easy to forget the everyday moments that can establish high engagement in teams and organisations. So if all it takes is a small gesture… why aren’t we doing it more?